The finance ministry rejected the request for approval for the deal on the ground that the acquisition partly involved share swap whereas it had only granted Stericat approval to bring in Rs 43.52 crore of FDI in cash through the sale of 77.5 per cent of its shares to Groupe, reported the PTI.

Casa will take a stake in Apna Paisa, while the Apna Paisa promoters will take compulsorily convertible preference shares of the equity share capital of the merged Apna and Casa entity, which is expected to complete within the next 18 months.